Winzo raises USD 65 mn from Griffin Gaming, others

Multiplayer gaming platform Winzo has raised USD 65 million in a series C funding round, led by the California-based Griffin Gaming Partners, Makers Fund and Courtside Ventures, totalling the capital-raise so far to USD 90 million. The fresh capital will be used to accelerate growth in the interactive entertainment industry, the startup said in statement on Friday. For Griffin, a leading fund focused on the global gaming market, this is its first investment in the country.

This financing follows only eight months after the company raised its Series B round from returning investors Makers Fund, Courtside Ventures, and Steve Pagliuca, the co-chairman of Bain Capital. Phil Sanderson, co-Founder of Griffin, will join Winzo’s board of directors, it added. Winzo, which is into a culturally relevant mobile gaming platform with broad-based adoption, seeks to position itself at the forefront of the domestic gaming culture with an expansive influencer network catering to over 50 million registered users who come from 12 different languages.

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The Series C funding represents yet another meaningful milestone for the company established in 2018 since then it has partnered with over 100 leading game developers. Paavan Nanda, co-founder of Winzo, said Griffin’s experience and insights across the global media and entertainment landscape shall be valuable to us as we continue to disrupt the gaming ecosystem. With this funding, we plan to grow much faster and become an even more lovable product for our consumers, he added. This is our first investment in India, said Nick Tuosto, the co-founder of Griffin and managing director and head of gaming at LionTree.

Winzo’s growth is a testament to the value the company is unlocking, said Michael Cheung, general partner at Makers Fund. Winzo is the largest social gaming and entertainment platform in the country. The platform is available in 12 Indian languages with over 50 million registered users. Its platform facilitates over 2.5 billion micro-transactions per month across a portfolio of over 70 games.